I love Grand Rapids! So when I was contacted to discuss traveling there again to visit friends to discuss work on their new condo, I was excited! A few years ago I had done some work at their first condo (you can see the work  HERE and HERE), they loved it, I loved it and the new owner of that condo loved it. So much so, that she wanted additional work done on the exterior of her door and some minor changes done to the original work. My friends had built out a larger condo in the same building and wanted some painting done on their front door and also in their master bedroom. Al and I traveled out there on a Saturday to discuss, budget and plan the work and finalize the details. It ended up being three full week murals, with this being the first one scheduled.

It was so fun seeing what the new owner had done with the original condo, changing some wall colors and adding her own personal touches, many of which were very much like the ones Al and I like to use in our own decorating. We got along so very well and were able to come up with an awesome design for the front door of the unit, featuring distressed wood, wrought iron hinges, hardware and circular window looking out to a western mountain scene.

Take a look at the photos of the completed door:

Carefully check out the photo above. Can you figure out which is the working peephole?

Loved, loved, loved working on this project, when completed it looked so much nicer than the original plain black door it had originally.

But sadly, the condo board decided that the artwork was in violation of condo rules and the owner was forced to have it painted over black again or face some hefty fines. sigh. I get very attached to my work and this one will only live on in memory now, it’s a black door once again.